Fireflies
by Alena S. Anigor
Summary: Even Anna can be touched by some things... /Yoh x Anna/ oneshot. Reviews are welcome.


_Disclaimer:_ Don't own Shaman King. Believe in ghosts, though...

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**Fireflies**

by Alena S. Anigor

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A completely empty street greeted Yoh Asakura when he turned around the corner and stopped for a moment to take a break and prevent his lungs from imploding. He bent down slightly, placing his hands on his shaking knees, breathing heavily all while trying to stay on his feet, courtesy of Anna's special training regime.

He spent a few moments hunched like that and then sighed heavily after enough oxygen entered his lungs, his throat burning slightly. He looked up at the darkening sky wearily, noticing the stars appearing and twinkling brightly, beads of sweat trickling down his face and neck, his white shirt slightly drenched. The necklace was dangling from his neck limply, swaying to and fro.

He managed to crack a smile despite the ache in his arms and legs and the heavy weights restrained around his wrists and ankles, burning and irritating his skin. It didn't matter that he had become Shaman King, gotten stronger and matured greatly for she always managed to find a reason to make him run, do pushups and count the time he took to achieve spirit control, using _You can never be too careful_ as a valid excuse.

He turned around warily, almost expecting to see her Shikigamis keeping an eye on him, but there was no one there except a few streetlamps that flickered on, illuminating the street slightly. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to look at a few pebbles lying on the concrete and his shadow, stretching before him. He straightened up slowly, grimacing when a few bones cracked in his back and decided to resume his run. He left Anna to stand beside a tree in the park, sweatdropping at the restrained Amidamaru and his teary eyes every time he ran by them and earning a cold stare from his wife whose only occupation was to stand there and look at the timer in her hands nonchalantly.

Sighing heavily, he took a step forward, gritting his teeth when the muscles in his legs protested by making his legs wobble.

"Must...keep...going..." he managed to choke out, jogging slowly down the street. "Just...9 more...laps...to go!"

His footsteps echoed down the empty street as he kept on running, his ponytail bouncing back and forth.

Anna's brows arched suspiciously when she spotted him running towards her, his sandals clanking against the concrete loudly. He threw her a pleading look, which she promptly ignored when he approached her and then hung his head in defeat when she frowned at the watch in her hands.

"You're 40 seconds late! Speed it up!"

Amidamaru just sighed heavily, already used to the restraining beads around him. Yoh continued to run down the street, not even feeling his legs and feet anymore. Anna shook her head dejectedly, resting her hand on her waist.

"He's started to slack off again," she murmured indifferently, making Amidamaru glance at her pleadingly.

"Uhm, well..." he started but quickly shut his mouth and lowered his head humbly when she looked at him sharply.

"Yes?" A pair of fine, light eyebrows rose again. Amidamaru suddenly found the concrete a very interesting thing to look at.

"Nothing..."

"Thought so."

To his surprise, she yanked on the beads a bit and they came loose, rolling down him until she trussed them together again, setting him free. He looked at her in surprise, staring at her expressionless face in wonder. She wasn't looking at him but kept her eyes on the street before her.

"You're free to go," she replied to his unanswered question. "He'll be done soon. Go home and tell Tamao to fix dinner."

He was staring at her for a little while until she turned to look at him keenly and he straightened up, nodding at the command politely.

"I understand." He replied quietly and turned to leave, floating down the street quickly, glancing just once at the empty street behind him, hoping to see the young boy but he was nowhere in sight. With a sigh, he disappeared, sympathizing with his young master and hoping to see him at least alive and breathing at the dinner table.

Anna was left to stand in the middle of the park alone, breathing in the summer air. She closed her eyes for a moment when a soft breeze flew by, tousling her bangs slightly. She opened them a moment later and blinked when she saw something green glittering in the grass in front of her.

With an interest, she took a step forward and bent down slightly to see a small firefly lying on a wisp of grass, crawling steadily until it reached the tip and then flied off, making her let out a soft 'oh'. She stood up, turning around to watch it fly across the park, lingering in the air for a moment before it settled down again, a little green dot in the darkness.

Her eyes widened a bit and her lips parted when she noticed more of them dancing and playing around her, illuminating the park slightly with soft, green tones. As if mesmerized by them, she took a few steps forward until she reached them, watching in awe the way they moved playfully around each other, reminding her of little, lost souls dancing in the air.

She failed to notice her husband running and panting heavily as he ran past her, now already on the verge of collapsing onto the ground.

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By the time he was finally running his last lap, Yoh was wheezing madly, now having a feeling his lungs had turned into complete mush. He managed to reach the park somehow, wanting nothing more than to fall down to the ground and stay there for the rest of his life. He fell on his knees limply, trying desperately to avoid getting struck by a heart attack while his head was pulsating and throbbing achingly, making him feel dizzy. Perhaps Anna was right and he should've paid more attention to his training. Running 50 laps at once after two weeks of sleeping till noon and then again sleeping under a tree in the afternoon equaled bad things happening to Yoh Asakura. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, squinting at the blur of green and black in front of him.

He managed to recognize Anna's slender figure and just when he was ready to tell her that he had finally succeeded he blinked in confusion and thought of rubbing his eyes. He did that a moment later to convince himself he was seeing right and then blinked again in wonder, staring at the blond girl who was currently kneeling in the grass with fireflies dancing around her, holding one of them in her hands. A soft smile was playing on her lips, the usual coldness and indifference in her eyes replaced by something warm, the green light of the firefly reflecting in her ebony orbs. Yoh forgot to breathe completely as he stared at the completely unimaginable scene in front of him, not believing that Anna, the cold, unyielding, strict and harsh itako was holding something so small and vulnerable so delicately and carefully in her hands, almost admiring the small creature.

He got up slowly, forgetting the pain in his limbs and took a hesitant step forward, not wanting to interrupt the magical moment and chase that warm, loving gleam in her eyes away. She looked so stunningly beautiful amidst the flying, green dots that he couldn't help but smile warmly at the sight, letting his feet carry him towards her.

She stiffened slightly when she sensed him approaching and he stopped when she turned around to look at him, just a ghost of that smile and that look in her eyes remaining on her face. His own face saddened slightly when he realized that he managed to ruin the magic surrounding her by coming too close. He wondered briefly if she would ever open up completely to him, instead of always hiding that smile and the kindness in her heart behind a mask of an ice queen.

"Uhm..." he uttered, watching her let the firefly fly away and getting up from the ground, the mask on her face perfect again. She always managed to fix the cracks, no matter how hard it was. "I'm...done."

She was watching him dully and he swallowed, not being able to get the image of her serene expression out of his mind. And there she was now, looking like she was carved of ice.

"Good," she replied, her voice cool and steady, refusing to turn around to look at the fireflies. "I told Amidamaru to go home and tell Tamao to make dinner. It should be done by now."

Words were spoken firmly, efficiently, like she was reciting a well-learned poem. Yoh just nodded solemnly and watched her turn around without another word. She strolled off calmly, not bothering to cast another look at the glowing creatures that had, just for a moment, warmed up her heart.

He looked at the park and at the little, glowing creatures sadly, sighing heavily when one of them approached him, flying near his head. He caught it, watching the way it illuminated his palm slightly and then glanced at her retreating form, jerking slightly when she stopped and yelled at him to hurry up.

He kept the firefly in his hand.

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She exited the house after dinner, leaving Tamao and Yoh to clean the table and wash the dishes. Stepping out on the wooden porch, she sat down, watching the crescent moon on the sky dully, supporting her chin by her hands. She could hear Tamao apologizing to Yoh after an audible clang of a fallen bowl was heard. She still had a crush on the boy, blushing, stuttering and dropping things every time he was in her near. She sighed; the girl was hopeless.

_And so are you,_ a small, sly voice whispered in her mind. She decided to ignore it.

She didn't know how much time she had spent sitting on the porch but she did snap out of her stupor abruptly when a small jar popped in front of her face out of nowhere, holding a small, black bug inside. A firefly. She blinked and then looked up to see Yoh standing beside her, a cheery smile on his face.

"Here," he said simply and handed her the jar as he sat down next to her. She took it somewhat awkwardly, watching the creature with a mixture of wonder and annoyance.

Silence ensued in which the boy was staring at the moon pensively and the girl was looking at the firefly intently, something about it being trapped in a jar irking her. She looked at him coldly, demanding an explanation.

"You seem to like them very much," he offered as a reply, not looking at her. He couldn't look at her like that, not after seeing the other Anna in the park that made his heart flutter and the butterflies in his stomach come to life. He thought the firefly would cause the same effect again, but apparently, he was wrong. The mask still didn't crack.

She was quiet for a while, observing the firefly blankly, wondering why the jar was dark and not illuminated by the creature. As if on cue, she lowered the jar and put her hand on the plastic cap, twisting it around until she opened the jar and waited.

The firefly tried to crawl out, but the slickness of the jar just made it topple over and fall back to the glass bottom. Yoh watched her, wondering what she would do next, waiting, expecting for something to happen, to trigger those buried, hidden emotions in her once again.

When she had enough of waiting, she turned the jar upside down, making the firefly drop out. It spent a few moments on the ground like that until it lit up suddenly and flew up, circling around her slowly as if thanking her for releasing it out of its confinement.

Yoh's lips curved up slightly when he saw her eyes follow the creature, a small flicker of those familiar emotions evident in her eyes. Involuntarily, she smiled just barely, enough for him to notice it and recognize it when the firefly drifted away slowly, becoming just a small green dot in the distance until it finally disappeared in the dark.

Silence stretched on, as she stared thoughtfully into the distance and he put an arm around her shoulder tentatively, pulling her closer to him until her head was under his chin and her body was leaning into his. She listened to the steady rhythm of his heart until her eyes drifted close right before he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Sleepy?" He asked and she nodded halfheartedly, silently thanking him by squeezing his hand when he helped her up. He let her go back inside, turning one more time to look at the moon and smiled when a firefly flew by.

Now he knew what could make the ice queen melt.

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**Author's jabber:**

There's an old European legend, saying that when a firefly flies into the window, someone is going to die...just a random note...:grins:

Anyway, I hope you liked it.


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